1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to home appliances, and more particularly, to a control panel assembly for operating the home appliances and displaying an operation state thereof.
2. Background Art
FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective disassembled view of a related art control panel assembly of a home appliance, in which a control panel 1 forms an outside shape of the control panel assembly. The control panel 1 may form one side of the home appliance. The control panel 1 is provided with a plurality of pass through holes 3 and resilient buttons 5 formed therein. The pass through holes 3 are parts for passing lights of LEDs to display operation states of the home appliance, and the resilient buttons 5 are parts for receiving signals for operating the home appliance from the user as a user presses the buttons 5.
The resilient buttons 5 connects to the control panel 1 with a plurality of legs 6, for returning to an original position after the button 5 is pressed owing to resiliency of the leg 6. The resilient button 5 has a lengthy extension to an inside of the control panel 1 for on/off a switch 8 fitted to a substrate 7 to be explained later.
The substrate 7 is fitted to an inside of the control panel 1. The substrate 7 has the switch 8 for receiving signals for operating the home appliance, components, such as LED for displaying operation states of the home appliance, and supporters 9 for supporting the LED and guiding lights. There are components other than above. The switch 8 is fitted at a position opposite to the resilient button 5, and the LED is fitted to a position opposite to the pass through hole 3.
Next, there is a window panel 10 welded to a surface of the control panel 1. The window panel 10 has pass through holes 12 in positions opposite to the resilient buttons 5 and the pass through holes 3 in the control panel 1. The pass through holes 12 opposite to the resilient buttons 5 are for permitting the user to press down the resilient buttons 5, and the pass through holes 12 opposite to the pass through holes 3 are for permitting the lights of the LEDs to pass outside.
In the meantime, there is a window film 15 fitted to a surface of the window panel 10. The window film 15 fitted to the window panel 10 prevents infiltration of foreign matters and moisture into an inner part. There are buttons 17 projected from positions opposite to the resilient buttons, and indicating parts 18 at positions opposite to the pass through holes 12 for indicating operation states of the home appliances. There are characters, or graphics on the buttons 17 and the indicating parts 18 for indicating functions or operations, or the like.
In the foregoing related art control panel assembly for home appliances, the window film 15 is fitted to the window panel 10, and the window panel 10 with the window film 15 fitted thereto is welded to the control panel 1. The substrate 7 is seated on an inside of the control panel 1.
Once the control panel assembly is assembled, the buttons 17 on the window film 15 are located opposite to the resilient buttons 5 of the control panel 1 through the pass through holes 12, such that when the buttons 17 are pressed, the resilient buttons 5 are pressed, to operate the switch 8 on the substrate 7.
The lights from the LEDs on the substrate 7 are transmitted through the pass through holes 12 opposite to the indicating parts 18 on the window film 15 and the pass through holes 3 in the control panel 1. The lights from the LED are guided by the supporters 9. Once the lights from the LEDs illuminate the window film 15, operation states of the home appliances are indicated in association with the indicating part 18.
However, the foregoing related art control panel assembly has the following problems.
First, the related art control panel assembly, provided with the control panel 1, the substrate 7, the window panel 10, and the window film 15, has relatively many number of components, to require individual fabrication of the components, that increases a production cost, and causes assembly work of the components poor.
Moreover, the foregoing related art control panel assembly has a plurality of the supporters 9 separated from one another for supporting the LEDs and guiding the lights thereof The plurality of supporters 9 are provided for smooth interaction between the switches 8 each fitted between the LEDs and the resilient buttons 5 on the control panel 1.
However, this configuration fails to provide a robust fitting state of the supporters 9, because the supporters 9 cannot but be fixed to a level at which lower parts of the supporters 9 are inserted in the substrate 7 respectively, and held by one urethane coating. This construction cannot transmit the lights of the LEDS guided by the supporters 9 to the indicating parts 18, accurately.
In addition to this, since (he resilient buttons 5 are on (lie control panel 1, operation of the switches 8 by the resilient buttons 5 may not be made exactly if the assembly between the control panel 1 and the substrate 7 are accurate.
In the meantime, one of resilient buttons 5 on the control panel 1 provided adjacent to one another may be pressed by mistake on the occasion of pressing an adjacent one, to cause a problem that adjacent switches 8 are pressed on the same time.
Since the window film 15 is fitted to cover the window panel 10 only, there is a danger of water infiltration into an inner part through a gap between the control panel 1 and the window panel 10, the control panel 1 does not look elegant since the control panel 1 has one part of the window film 15 fitted thereto and the other part of the window film 15 not fitted thereto, and which further causes a problem of a difference of discoloration between the part the window film 15 is fitted thereto and the other part the window film 15 is not fitted thereto when the control panel 1 is used for a long time.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention designed for solving the foregoing problem is to provide a control panel assembly of a simple construction.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a control panel assembly having an improved outside look.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a control panel assembly which permits no infiltration of foreign matters into an inner part thereof
Still a further object of the present invention is to provide a control panel assembly which shows no discoloration even if the control panel assembly is used for a long time period.
The object of the present invention can be achieved by providing a control panel assembly for home appliances including a substrate for fitting switches and indicators for operating at least one or more than one home appliance and indicating operating states of the home appliance respectively, an outside film formed such that a user can access the switches and the indicators, and a control panel injection molded so to be inserted in, and unitized with, the outside film having a substrate fitted to an inside thereof.
Preferably, the control panel assembly further includes an intermediate frame for connecting the outside film to the switches/indicators such that the outside film interacts with the switches/indicators.
The intermediate frame includes at least one intermediate button for driving the switch, and at least one supporter for supporting the indicators and guiding indication of the indicators.
The intermediate frame further includes reinforcing ribs formed between adjacent intermediate buttons.
In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for fabricating a control panel assembly for home appliances, including the steps of (a) forming an outside film such that a user can put the home appliance into operation and know an operation state, (b) injection molding resin in the outside film, to form the control panel as one unit with the outside film, and (c) fitting the control panel unitized with the outside film to a substrate, such that the outside film can interact with the switches and the buttons fitted on the substrate.
The step (a) includes the steps of (aa) printing graphics or characters on a raw film for indicating operations and operation states, and (ab) forming the printed film to be in conformilty with a predetermined outside form by heat.
The step (ab) includes the steps of placing the printed film in a mold having a forming surface of a required form, applying heat and pressure to the film such that the film is brought into close contact with the forming surface, maintaining a pressure in the mold for a time period for forming the film to a form opposite to the forming surface, and separating the formed film from the mold.
The step (b) includes the steps of (ba) placing the formed film in a first mold having recesses opposite to a form of a front surface of the formed film, (bb) coupling a second mold opposite to the first mold with the first mold having the film placed therein, to form a forming cavity between the first mold and the second mold, (bc) injecting resin into the forming cavity, and (bd) removing a control panel from the mold, the control panel being formed as the resin is set as one unit with the film.
Thus, the present invention can improve the quality of an outside look of the control panel, prevent infiltration of foreign matters into the control panel assembly, and permits easy assembly of the control panel assembly.